Bordeaux 2014 a ‘book-end’ vintage

A week before the fine wine trade descends on Bordeaux for its first taste of last year’s vintage, local grower, winemaker and writer Gavin Quinney has published an in-depth weather report for the 2014 growing season.

Gavin Quinney

The report, available in full on the latest Liv-ex blog, described 2014 as a ‘book-end’ vintage: “a relatively cool and damp summer was propped up by excellent flowering in June, and glorious September sunshine prior to the harvest,” said Quinney who admitted that, with its sixteen graphs covering everything from hours of sunshine to rainfall by region, his report takes the English obsession with the weather “to a new level.” But “as a grower and wine producer in Bordeaux, the impact on the different grape varieties and terroirs is fairly obvious … [and] it can also be quite dramatic, speaking as a viticulteur who lost half his crop to hail in 2009 and 2013.

But for rain in the second week of October, the end of the season would have been “perfect” claimed Quinney, but “unlike 2011, 2012 and 2013 there was minimal threat of rot at harvest time for the reds.” As a result “yields were approaching normal after the disastrous 2013 crop” which were 27% down on the average harvest. He added that: “the September drought upped the quality, but it reduced the juice.” Among the images compiled by Quinney in his report are four photographs showing the same vine in St Emilion taken on, or around, 22nd August during the veraison. The bunches last year show almost complete colour change as in 2011, in total contrast to 2013 when the grapes were still green.

How all this translates into quality among the wines will soon become apparent at the Union des Grands Crus tastings next week, although the conversation among merchants and critics is more likely to revolve around pricing than last year’s rainfall or sunshine.